The Inner Battle
by cowgirlangel95
Summary: Gilligan has always struggled dealing with his emotions, but has managed to keep them under wraps. One day, he finally gets tired of the way he's treated, and someone helps him to get what he deserves. One-shot


_**A/N: Hey all! This is my first Giligan's Island fic, but I'm not new to this fandom. Going on 19 years :) Anyway, there were some points Gilligan went through during their 3 season run that I went through, so I wanted him to have something right happen in his life. Hope you like it.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Gilligan's Island**_

Gilligan looked up at the cave wall that stood in front of him. He picked up some pebbles that lay beside him threw them up against the wall. After four years of getting closer to the others on the island, he still felt alone. Whenever something went wrong, who was to blame? Gilligan. He didn't even have the chance to defend himself. Everyone would yell at him, and then ignore him for a week or so. Then, they would act like nothing had happened. _I guess that's a good thing that they seem like nothing happened in a way…but why am I always to blame? I just do what I think is right…_

For the longest time, Gilligan wished there were someone on the island he could talk to. Sure, the Skipper was his buddy, but he couldn't talk to him about what was bothering him. Both he and the Professor were the first people to blame him when something went wrong.

Gilligan picked up another pebble, tossed it up, and caught it. "When will the day come when I'm appreciated!" he announced as he threw the stone against the wall. It collided with a loud crack, and fell to the ground.

"That day may come sooner than you realize," a voice said.

Gilligan slowly turned his head towards the voice. He looked up and made eye contact with Mary Ann. She looked so pretty wearing her yellow top and jeans, and half of her hair tied up in a yellow ribbon. He wanted to gaze at her for eternity, but what he wanted and how he acted were two completely different things. Gilligan broke eye contact and looked down at the cave floor. He was always nervous around girls, but especially Mary Ann. Ever since they first met, Gilligan thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. And lately, his feelings for her had grown stronger. But he was certain that a girl like her would never be interested in a klutz like him.

"May I come in?" she asked. Gilligan nodded without looking up at her. Mary Ann walked in and knelt down in front of the young sailor.

There was a brief silence before Gilligan asked, "How did you find me?"

Mary Ann clasped her hands in front of her and placed them in her lap. "I followed you. You seemed rather upset at breakfast this morning, and I wanted to see if you alright."

Gilligan shrugged, and didn't bother to respond verbally to Mary Ann.

"Come on, Gilligan. Please tell me what's bothering you," she gently put her hand on his knee. "I don't like seeing you like this."

When she put her hand on his knee, Gilligan felt his heart race and what felt like electricity running through him. Honestly, she was probably one of the last people he wanted to talk to because of his feelings for her, but she had just granted his wish from a few minutes ago. _She's someone to talk to._

Gilligan took off his hat and clung onto it, offering him some comfort while he tried to hold back the tears of stress. "I feel like everyone blames me for everything…botched rescue attempt, it's my fault. Something on the island goes wrong, it's my fault. I don't have a chance to defend myself cause everyone blames me, yells at me, ignores me, and then acts like nothing happened after about a week. Like when we thought the island was sinking? The Professor didn't tell me that he was using that to measure the water level. Or when the weather balloon was on the island? I did what I thought was right by defending you guys from what I thought was a monster. When we tried to write SOS in burning logs, the Professor made it worse. I admit on that one it was mostly my fault, but the Professor could have doused the log in brandy again after he moved it.

"Also, I do most of the work on the island. Everyone else tries to pawn their work to me," he paused to look up at Mary Ann. "Everyone except you that is. Anyway, I feel like I can't talk to anyone about this. Yeah, they're my friends, but I feel like they're not that close."

Mary Ann scooted closer to Gilligan. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like that Gilligan—"

Gilligan cut her off. "Not really. You only got really mad at me a couple of times. Any other time you stood up for me."

Mary Ann smiled a bit. "You know, Gilligan. You could have told me this before. I could have helped you talk to them."

She watched the sailor's head sink lower as he mumbled, "No, no I couldn't have."

"Why not? It's not like I'd bite your head off."

He shrugged. "I thought I'd be bothering you if I did."

Mary Ann crossed her arms. She believed him…but she had a feeling it wasn't the whole truth. He was hiding something.

"That's not the whole reason, is it?"

Gilligan twisted his hat in his hands. This was not how he wanted to tell Mary Ann that he had feelings for her. What if she rejected him? He didn't want to deal with the emotions of that on top of what he was feeling now.

Mary Ann took ahold of his chin and made him look at her. Gilligan looked into her brown eyes, and immediately looked away. "Look at me." He did as he was told. "Why couldn't you have talked to me?"

Gilligan let out his breath. _Why why why….I don't wanna tell her now, but I have no choice!_ "Because I—because I…" No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the words out of his mouth. "I'm sorry Mary Ann, I can't say it." He looked down again.

She released his chin and took ahold of his hand. Gilligan's eyes shot up, and she smiled. "Yes you can; just try once more…please?"

Gilligan closed his eyes. He couldn't resist her smile at all. "Mary Ann…Ilikeyouverymuch!" he rushed. He released the rest of the breath he was holding. It felt good to get it off his chest, but a new fear soon replaced it. How would Mary Ann respond?

Mary Ann moved closer to him and kissed him on the cheek. Gilligan's eyes grew wide once more. "I like you too, Gilligan. Very much. I've just been too afraid to tell you anything because I didn't want to scare you."

"I didn't think you'd want to be with a guy like me."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I? You're the kindest, sweetest, most gentle person I've ever known."

"You forgot klutz…and I don't deserve to be with you."

Mary Ann playfully slapped his shoulder. "Everyone is a klutz in one way shape or form. And why don't you let me decide who I deserve to be with." She stood up. "Let's head back to camp; I have a coconut cream pie with your name on it."

"But I know once I go back the Skipper is going to want me to start on some sort of work he has planned for me. All I want to do right now is to do nothing."

She crossed her arms. "Don't worry about the others. I can take care of them for you."

Gilligan smiled as he stood up, but he didn't follow Mary Ann out of the cave. Instead, he stayed right where he was.

Noticing that the sailor wasn't beside her, Mary Ann turned back around. "Are you alright, Gilligan?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah, it's just um...we are, uh—"

Mary Ann let out a small chuckle. "Yes, we are."

Gilligan's smile grew wider. He approached Mary Ann and took her hand in his. Together, they walked back to the hut area.

* * *

Gilligan eagerly ate the pie that was in front of him. He barely had time to swallow what he had in his mouth before he brought another forkful to his mouth.

Mary Ann laughed. "Oh Gilligan, how can you stay so thin when you eat like that?"

He swallowed what he had in his mouth and shrugged. "I don't know. But since I barely had anything at breakfast, I'm starving!"

"I'll be right back. I have to take the laundry down from the line," she responded. Before she left, Mary Ann gave Gilligan a little peck on top of the head, and headed off.

Gilligan set down his fork and watched Mary Ann walk away. She was the prettiest girl—lady—that he had ever met. Part of him was convinced that this was all a dream and he would wake up from it soon. But it was real—very real.

He picked up his fork once more and continued to daydream, but it wasn't long until…

"Gilligan!"

Gilligan's fork flew from his hand and landed on the far side of the table. He rested his head on his head, waiting for the not so jolly giant to come up behind him.

He turned his head, and sure enough, the Skipper was there with his hands on his hips. "Gilligan, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to get started on your work for the day? And what do I find you doing? Eating!"

As Skipper continued to yell, Gilligan felt all of the emotions that he experienced a little while earlier returning. He wished that they would just disappear; rather he wished that he could disappear.

When Skipper paused to take a breath, a voice yelled, "Skipper, that's enough!"

The sea captain turned towards Mary Ann. He had never heard her speak so forcefully before. "What?"

She approached him and placed her hands on her hips. "You heard me."

"Mary Ann, you don't have to do this…" Gilligan said.

"Yes I do," she replied, then faced the Skipper once again. "Would you mind if we spoke in the supply hut?" she asked, but it sounded more of an order than a request.

Skipper followed the farm girl into the hut and shut the door behind them. "What's going on Mary Ann? I've never seen you like this before."

"Skipper, you have no clue what's going on in Gilligan's life, do you?"

He raised a questioning eyebrow. "How can you say that? He's my little buddy!"

"You say that, but you have no clue what your and the other's actions are doing to him emotionally. Blaming him for everything that goes wrong, yelling at him for not accomplishing impossible standards, always pawning your work on him. Gilligan is not responsible for everything that goes wrong on this island—"

Mary Ann was interrupted by the Professor walking into the hut, book in hand. He heard the last sentence that she said, and agreed. "Of course Gilligan isn't responsible for everything that happens on the island."

Mary Ann's head whipped around towards him. "Do you really believe that Professor? Then why are you and the Skipper the first ones to blame him when something goes wrong? It's not always his fault. Gilligan is human; which means he's entitled to make mistakes. It's time that everyone realizes this," she concluded and headed out of the hut.

The Skipper and Professor looked at each other. "Do we really do that?" the captain asked.

The Professor placed his book down on one of his tables. "I'm afraid so. I never realized it until now; and none of us ever gave Gilligan the chance to defend himself. We always blamed him no matter what happened."

The Skipper shook his head. "How could we do such a thing? Gilligan is my little buddy! I never wanted to do anything to hurt him."

"I'm sure we all feel that way, Skipper."

* * *

Mary Ann headed out of the hut and back to the communal table. She watched Gilligan take the last bite of pie and place his hands over his happy stomach.

"I take it the pie was good, huh?" Mary Ann teased.

Gilligan eagerly nodded. "Best I ever had!"

"You say that every time I make something for you."

"It's the truth," Gilligan paused. "What went on between you and the Skipper?"

Mary Ann shrugged. "Nothing much. But I think you'll be able to say 'no' more often."

Gilligan smiled and stood up. "Do you wanna go on a walk through the jungle with me?"

"I'd love too."

Gilligan and Mary Ann stood up, hand in hand, and headed off into the jungle.


End file.
